Method of manufacturing a thermoplastic container with decorative rings

ABSTRACT

A method of manufacturing a thermoplastic container with decorative rings has steps of: preparing a container body and multiple decorative rings by injection molding; heating the container body until deformable; sleeving the decorative rings around the container body; operating blow-molding to expand the container body until the decorative rings are inlaid in the expanded container body; and cooling the container body until solidified. By inlaying the decorative rings within periphery of the container body, the decorative rings are firmly engaged with the container body so that the thermoplastic container is durable.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing athermoplastic container with multiple decorative rings, and moreparticularly to a method of forming a container that easily combineswith multiple decorative rings in different colors and shapes. Thethermoplastic container is also disclosed.

2. Description of Related Art

Conventional plastic products manufactured by injection molding usuallyhave only one color. If one plastic object has to show various colorsand patterns thereon, one method is to transplant the colors and thepatterns by printing but performance of the transplanting is not donewell. Another method is to manufacture a body and multiple accessoriesin different colors individually and glue the accessories to the body.As shown in FIG. 1, when manufacturing a thermoplastic container 1 withcolorful decorative rings 11, a body 1 and multiple decorative rings 11in different colors are produced first. Then, the multiple decorativerings 11 are located to sleeve the body 1 and secured by glue. Theachieved thermoplastic container manufactured by this method is easilydamaged especially at the joints between the body 1 and the decorativerings 11 because the decorative rings 11 protrude out of periphery onthe body 1 and fall from the body 1 when the thermoplastic container isoccasionally bumped or soaked in water that deteriorates the glue at thejoints.

According to above description, the thermoplastic containers made by theconventional methods has some drawbacks not resolved.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A main objective of the present invention is to provide a method ofmanufacturing a thermoplastic container with multiple decorative rings,wherein the thermoplastic container is durable because the decorativerings do not detach from a body of the container.

Another main objective of the present invention is to provide a methodof manufacturing a thermoplastic container with multiple decorativerings, wherein the method is practiced with conventional injectionmolding and blow molding and has low manufacturing cost by using theconventional injection molding and blow molding without new equipment.

A further main objective of the present invention is to provide athermoplastic container with undetachable decorative rings so that thethermoplastic container has a vivid appearance.

To achieve the foregoing objectives, the method of manufacturing athermoplastic container with multiple decorative rings comprises:

preparing a container body and multiple decorative rings by injectionmolding;

heating the container body until deformable;

sleeving the decorative rings around the container body;

operating blow-molding to expand the container body until the decorativerings are inlaid in the container body; and

cooling the container body until solidified.

The thermoplastic container in the resent invention comprises:

a container body with an outer periphery and having multiple annulargrooves defined around the outer periphery; and

multiple decorative rings respectively inlaid inside the multipleannular grooves, wherein the multiple decorative rings are seamless.

By inlaying the decorative rings within the outer periphery of thecontainer body, the decorative rings are firmly engaged with thecontainer body so that the thermoplastic container is durable.

Further benefits and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent after a careful reading of the detailed description withappropriate reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional side view of a conventional thermoplasticcontainer in accordance with the prior art:

FIG. 2 is a schematic flow blocks of a method of manufacturing athermoplastic container in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of elements in the thermoplasticcontainer in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 4 is an operational exploded cross-sectional side view of anunfinished thermoplastic container with a blow mold;

FIG. 5 is an operational cross-sectional side view showing the blowmolding of the thermoplastic container within the blow mold;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional side view of one preferred embodiment of thethermoplastic container in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of thethermoplastic container in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional side view of another preferred embodiment ofthe thermoplastic container in accordance with the present invention;and

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of thethermoplastic container in FIG. 8.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

A method of manufacturing a thermoplastic container with decorativerings in accordance with the present invention comprises steps of:preparing a container body and multiple decorative rings by injectionmolding; heating the container body until deformable; sleeving thedecorative rings around the container body; operating blow-molding toexpand the container body until the decorative rings are inlaid in theexpanded container body; and cooling the container body untilsolidified. By inlaying the decorative rings within an outer peripheryof the container body, the decorative rings are firmly engaged with thecontainer body so that the thermoplastic container is durable.

With reference to FIG. 2, a schematic flowchart of the method ofmanufacturing the thermoplastic container is shown. Each step isillustrated in the followings in details.

a) preparing a container body and multiple decorative rings by injectionmolding: a container body 2 and multiple decorative rings 3 aremanufactured by injection molding (as shown in FIG. 3), wherein thecontainer body 2 and the decorative rings 3 are both made ofthermoplastic plastic such as acryl or in different plastic materials,especially different thermoplastic materials;

b) heating the container body until deformable: the container body 2 isheated by a heating machine such as a baker (not shown) until thecontainer body 2 is deformable for blow molding;

c) sleeving the decorative rings around the container body: thedecorative rings 3 sleeve outer periphery of the container body 2 indifferent colors with the container body 2 and preferably have sameintervals between two adjacent decorative rings 3 on the container body2.

d) operating blow-molding to expand the container body until thedecorative rings are inlaid in the expanded container body: thecontainer body 2 with the decorative rings is located inside a blow mold41 of a blowing device 4 (as shown in FIG. 4). Wherein, a recess 411inside the blow mold 41 is larger than the volume of container body 2 sothat there is a gap defined between inner wall of the recess 411 and theouter periphery of the container body 2 to allow the container body 2expending. Then, a gas injector 42 is mounted on an opening of thecontainer body 2 (as shown in FIG. 5) to blow the container body 2 untilthe decorative rings 3 are inlaid inside wall of the container body 2.Thereby, the decorative rings 3 are protected by the container body 2,do not be separated from the container body 2 easily and provide adecorative efficiency to the thermoplastic container. By blowing thecontainer body 2, the thermoplastic container has one embodiment asshown in FIGS. 6 and 7, wherein the outer periphery of the containerbody 2 protrudes over the decorative rings 3. Selectively, thethermoplastic container has another embodiment as shown in FIGS. 8 and9, wherein the outer periphery of the container body 2 is flush with thedecorative rings 3.

A thermoplastic container manufactured by the foregoing method comprisesa container body 2 with an outer periphery and multiple decorative rings3. The container body 2 has multiple annular grooves 22 defined in theouter periphery to respectively receive the multiple decorative rings 3.Particularly, the decorative rings 3 are seamless because the decorativerings 3 are manufactured first and then attached to the container body 2after deforming and expanding the container body 2. Moreover, thedecorative rings 3 individually have different colors or mixture colorsto make the decorative rings 3 distinguishable from the container body2. As shown in FIGS. 6 and 8, the decorative rings 3 is engaged with theannular grooves 22 in different depths so that the decorative rings 3are partially or completely inlaid within the corresponding annulargrooves 22 or particularly flush with the outer periphery of thecontainer body 2.

According to above description, the method of manufacturing thethermoplastic container with decorative rings has the followingadvantages:

1. The method of this invention can be practiced by simple operationswith present devices of injection molding and blow molding withoutadding new or complex equipment. Therefore, the method is practical andhas low manufacturing cost.

2. The thermoplastic container made by the method in this invention hasa vivid appearance and durable efficiency because the decorative ringsare inlaid on the outer periphery of container body.

Although this invention has been described in its preferred form with acertain degree of particularity, it is understood that the presentinvention of the preferred form has been made only by way of example andthat numerous changes in the details of construction and the combinationand arrangement of parts any be resorted to without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention.

1. A method of manufacturing a thermoplastic container with multipledecorative rings comprises: preparing a container body and multipledecorative rings by injection molding; heating the container body untildeformable; sleeving the decorative rings around the container body;operating blow-molding to expand the container body until the decorativerings are inlaid in the container body after expanding; and cooling thecontainer body until solidified.
 2. The method as claimed in claim 1,wherein an outer periphery of the container body protrudes over thedecorative rings in the step of operating blow-molding to expand thecontainer body.
 3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein an outerperiphery of the container body is flush with the decorative rings inthe step of operating blow-molding to the container body to expand.
 4. Athermoplastic container comprising: a container body with an outerperiphery having multiple annular grooves defined around the outerperiphery; and multiple decorative rings respectively inlaid inside themultiple annular grooves, wherein the multiple decorative rings areseamless.
 5. The thermoplastic container as claimed in claim 4, whereinthe outer periphery of the container body protrudes over the decorativerings.
 6. The thermoplastic container as claimed in claim 4, wherein theouter periphery of the container body is flush with the decorativerings.